F*ckin sweet. Unless Feaster pulls a rabbit out of his ass, that is one sad-ass looking bunch of centres. Iginla can look forward to playing by himself next season.

Flamer fans can pin their hopes on a JBo trade, but with that track record in Calgary and that contract Feaster would be lucky to grab somebody like Tim Connoly because Burke would be happy to be rid of the contract for an extra warm body on the blueline. At least Lou has the track record to go with the big contract.

tantalum wrote:Hradek also saying to not be surprised is Parise signs back with the Devils. Inside info? No idea as he could just be parroting what we all know...Parise will choose NJ if they can come up with a reasonably competitive offer.

That would be great.

Parise with the Hawks would be terrible. Sutter and Parise both with the wings would be terrible. Both with the wild would be concerning. Sutter with the wings would be a lateral.

tantalum wrote:Hradek also saying to not be surprised is Parise signs back with the Devils. Inside info? No idea as he could just be parroting what we all know...Parise will choose NJ if they can come up with a reasonably competitive offer.

That would be great.

Parise with the Hawks would be terrible. Sutter and Parise both with the wings would be terrible. Both with the wild would be concerning. Sutter with the wings would be a lateral.

Wings getting neither basically takes them out of it next year IMO.

i think the loss of Lidstrom puts the Wings outta the picture as a serious contender...by the end of November we will see what an important part of their team he was...

tantalum wrote:Hradek also saying to not be surprised is Parise signs back with the Devils. Inside info? No idea as he could just be parroting what we all know...Parise will choose NJ if they can come up with a reasonably competitive offer.

That would be great.

Parise with the Hawks would be terrible. Sutter and Parise both with the wings would be terrible. Both with the wild would be concerning. Sutter with the wings would be a lateral.

Wings getting neither basically takes them out of it next year IMO.

i think the loss of Lidstrom puts the Wings outta the picture as a serious contender...by the end of November we will see what an important part of their team he was...

the Dogsalmon wrote:i think the loss of Lidstrom puts the Wings outta the picture as a serious contender...by the end of November we will see what an important part of their team he was...

I think you're right, even though the Wings fans at the office are loathe to agree!

Like many teams, Detroit has a ton of cap space and not much to spend it on. If they don't land Suter and/or Parise, they are not going to have much else to spend that space on barring a major trade or two. I like Suter, but even if they do land him, chances are slim that he'll be able to fully replace one of the best ever...

herb wrote:Like many teams, Detroit has a ton of cap space and not much to spend it on. If they don't land Suter and/or Parise, they are not going to have much else to spend that space on barring a major trade or two. I like Suter, but even if they do land him, chances are slim that he'll be able to fully replace one of the best ever...

Yeah I'm not so sure.

Last year was a big drop off for him but it wasn't really discussed because of the Lidstrom mystique. I would Suspect that the 28 year old Suter is probably a better performer then the 40 year old Lidstrom.

That said there is a leadership / culture part to Lidstrom as well so we'll see how big of a factor that is.

Potatoe1 wrote:That said there is a leadership / culture part to Lidstrom as well so we'll see how big of a factor that is.

Considering Datysuk and Zetterberg will be the major pieces in the leadership core, I wouldn't be too worried about the culture Lidstrom is leaving behind.

As for Suter replacing Lidstrom, he's going to be every bit as good, if not better, defensively as the hall-of famer over the past few years. Where he'll have some issues is offensively, namely on the PP.

The PK might improve with Suter, but the PP is yet to be determined...IF Suter joins Detroit.

Last year was a big drop off for him but it wasn't really discussed because of the Lidstrom mystique. I would Suspect that the 28 year old Suter is probably a better performer then the 40 year old Lidstrom.

That said there is a leadership / culture part to Lidstrom as well so we'll see how big of a factor that is.

I agree that Suter is a better player than the Lidstrom we saw last year, but Lidstrom took a huge step back last year. Prior to 2011/12 he was a 60+point guy 25+min guy for 15 years straight with seven Norris trophies. Unbelievable how good and consistent he was. It would have been a shock had he retired after the 2011 season given how good he was that year, but I don't think anybody was surprised he retired after last season.

Despite all the hype, I don't think Suter can replace the 60+point, annual Norris trophy winning version of Lidstrom.